Meet the Coach - Part II

9:55 AM Fri 19 October, 2007 | Back

By Matt Burgan

for melbournefc.com.au

News

In the second of a four-part series with Dean Bailey, the new Melbourne coach shares his expectations for 2008. Bailey also talks about key Melbourne men Craig Cameron (recruiting) and Bohdan Babijczuk (fitness) and the important roles they will play in the club's fortunes.

What were your impressions of Melbourne's list when you were at Port Adelaide and how have those thoughts changed since arriving at the club?

DB: The last three years before this year, Melbourne played finals. For whatever the reasons you want to put forward, the facts are we had an unlucky year with injury, but that also means a lot of young blokes got opportunities to play.

[Nathan] Jones and [Matthew] Bate finished second and third in our best and fairest – two young kids with a great future. That's a real plus.

For everything Aaron Davey went through this year, he still came fifth in the best and fairest, so that's great. Considering he really had a restricted year with injury – I'm not sure whether people knew that – but he actually played through with injury in the second half of the year, as he really wanted to represent this club.

So there are three players in the top five of the best and fairest who are young blokes and they'll all continue to make big steps next year and that's exciting.

If we can control our injuries and better manage them – that's going to help and be a plus for us. The facts were there for everyone to see – they're not excuses – but we need to get that area right off the field. We're working hard with our medical team to get that right, along with our fitness people with Bohdan, [rehabilitation and sports science manager] Brentan [Parsons] and [player energy and wellness manager] Adam [Paulo], who are all working really hard to have a better prepared year. We've got the right people in place, so I expect that to be better than what it was last year.

The previous three years, they were building towards an opportunity to be a constant finals contender and I think the greatest thing you can't do is put limitations on top of players or clubs.

I'm going to get asked: 'How many games are we going to win?' We're going to try and win as many as we can. If you put a certain limit on it, then you will fail by it or as soon as you reach it, then you've achieved it, so I don't see that as a great way to coach.

We're looking to win as many games as we can and play as exciting as we can and we'll be more focused on what we're doing than the opposition. We also need to know that the opposition has got some strengths and we need to try and break them where we can, but otherwise we'll be trying to play our game as well as we can.

The draft. Will you leave that area to recruiting manager Craig Cameron or will you get quite involved?

DB: I'll be involved in the drafting and recruiting, but Craig Cameron is our recruiting manager and at the end of the day, he knows the players better than I will. There is a lot of pressure on him to perform, but he is respected throughout the industry as one of the really good recruiting managers and we're very fortunate to have him.

I've been with him for the last month, with the draft camp and trade week and he's been very impressive, particularly in Canberra in the interview process. Anthony Klarica, our sports psychologist, was also very helpful in the discussions up in Canberra with the players and the interviews.

We exposed [assistant coach] Paul Williams and [opposition analyst] Barry Prendergast for their first draft camp and I think that was important that they got a feel for what happens in the interview process.

As coaches, we will have an involvement in the draft, but at the end of the day, we've got a very, very good recruiting manager who has got a history of picking pretty good players. The reason to get the extra pick in the trade period was to help Craig and our list and I'm backing my people in.

Melbourne brought in Bohdan Babijczuk to head up its physical preparation area last year. Do you think the fact he will have a second season to prepare the list will make a significant difference in 2008?

DB: It's a great challenge for all of us, with Bohdan leading the fitness. He's had great experience and we've had some discussions and meetings about the pre-season. He's really keen because it's a reflection of everyone, where we finished last season. So we're all very keen to make sure we get a better result next year.

The end of year reports I've seen from the medical staff and 'Baba' has been very, very detailed and I'm really encouraged by that. They've done the review and I've seen the recommendations. The detail they've gone to is microscopic – they haven't missed anything. They're prepared to go to that nth degree to make sure that this is what we're doing going forward.

You spoke earlier about not setting limitations - do you therefore think in today's football environment, with the draft and salary cap, that anything is possible in any given season, regardless of the previous year's outcome?

DB: If you have a look at last season's preliminary finalists – three of the four teams didn't play finals the previous year. So that says that if you can get your act together and if you can get the right pre-season training in place, you give yourself a chance to win games.

The challenge for us is to make sure we have the best pre-season we can and we just need to focus on that. We must ensure that everything we do is aiming towards a better season next year. When you do that, anything and everything can happen and that's the exciting thing.

We're going to draft three young kids and our young players have got really good experience this year, so straight away there is improvement. By having our best pre-season ever, we're going to be a 10 or 20 per cent better team and the rest of it should take care of itself, so it's very exciting.

Do you subscribe to the theory that injuries to key players can ruin or dictate your season?

DB: The facts are that injuries will affect your season, but how much it affects it is up to you. They're just part and parcel of the game, so if we have injuries, we've just got to get on with it and you never use it as an excuse. I'll never use injuries as an excuse for a poor year - they're just the facts of the game. It's a tough game and you've got to be prepared to put your body on the line and some injuries may or may not come your way. If you're well prepared, you'll get through them, uninjured.

Coming up in Part III...

Bailey talks about his philosophies and evolution as a coach.

thanks mate..

what a great coach

what a great coach

Let's wait until we see how well he goes on game day before declaring how good / bad he is.

thanks mate..

what a great coach

ye, he seem to know what hes talking about.

Cheers for that, a good read.

thanx mate was a good read

hope mfc website gets better soon hahaha

Let's wait until we see how well he goes on game day before declaring how good / bad he is.

He is saying the right things and has impressed so far. But I wonder how long a honeymoon period Demon fans will give him?? Poor bugger, with all the hot air being blown up his khyber by some he must be looking like one of those gorillas tethered to a car yard!

Let's wait until we see how well he goes on game day before declaring how good / bad he is.

yeah ok ok...i just think that so far, he has made the right decisions and i havent disagreed with one thing hes realy done or said...not that im much of an expert...i loved daniher but some of the things he did were frustrating to me and i dont see dean bailey bieng like that....having said that, when daniher first joined us i think he got us jeff white ala meeson, and almost sneered Peter Mateera over from the West to MFC, ala Judd. He also delisted and traded a couple of the more inconsistent players, i think sean charles and obst...

http://melbournefc.com.au

Part 1

Bailey on the Club, coaches, CAC, Riley, coaching, Judd, Miller, TJ, Robbo, Brock and the pre-season.

Part 2

Expectations for 2008.

I'm excited. Go you bloody Demons!

Compulsory reading.

We have 'Rehab and Sports Science', and a 'Wellness ' Managers?

This smells of "..leavinbg no stone unturned'.

I'm tipping this guy has a Plan B as well.

Go dees.

what i like the most about him, was his attack on chris judd and the way he spoke about how our facilities "smelt like a football club"

I'm tipping this guy has a Plan B as well.

My god man, what a crazy thought :D !!!

Compulsory reading.

We have 'Rehab and Sports Science', and a 'Wellness ' Managers?

This smells of "..leavinbg no stone unturned'.

I'm tipping this guy has a Plan B as well.

Go dees.

We had a wellness manager this year as well, whatever the hell that is!

You gotta love the names given to FD staff these days. No more "recruiting bloke" but a "list management and player personnel manager". No more "fitness guy" but a "strength, energy and welfare manager". Next the janitor will be called the "player hygeine manager".

sean charles and obst...

My brother played against Sean Charles when Sean played for Powelltown during his U/17 days. My brother was Full Forward and didn't kick a goal and Sean kicked 5 goals on him as the Full Back